Hazy
by TheSoggyBug
Summary: A moment under the stars with our favorite demigod couple. Percabeth fluff!


_The style is probably a little too…eloquent for how Percy really does speak, but oh well. _

_Cute little fanfiction… I'm going to choose to make this…perhaps…a year after the Heroes of Olympus series. So they're 18? About? There's not going to be any reference to those books or what happens in them. I just need them to be a little older and to have knowledge about Camp Jupiter. _

_It might be a bit OOC because they're older, but guaranteed fluff. _

_Go about your reading now!_

_**Disclaimer**__: I DO NOT OWN PERCY JACKSON OR ANYTHING ABOUT THE SERIES. Sadly enough._

**oOo**

It was after night had fallen on the camp and I was stretched across the covers of my bed, trying to fall asleep. The day before had been long; Capture the Flag had lasted over three hours. There had been an epic sword fight in front of the opposing teams' flag. It only ended when Annabeth managed to break away from Travis Stoll's booby trap long enough to snatch their flag. We ended up sweaty and covered in blood and rips in our clothing.

Straight after dinner I'd collapsed in the Poseidon cabin, and there I remained.

What time was it? 10:00? 11:00? Maybe even midnight? I wasn't sure.

My mouth tasted dry and sandy, so despite my exhaustion and lack of energy, I heaved myself off the bed to get a drink.

From the bathroom, I filled up a glass of water, and then shuffled back into the other room to stand in front of the window overlooking the sea. It was already dark out; stars shone blindingly from the sky, creating twins of themselves on the perfectly still water.

From the window I could just barely see the corner of the Athena cabin. Unlike the Hermes cabin (which I could spot through the glass on the opposite wall), the windows were completely dark and no sound could be heard coming from it.

Annabeth was probably asleep by then.

I pondered this, drinking water and gazing out over the ocean, where it looked like the world ended at the dock, dropping off into a universe of stars.

A devious idea crept up into my mind and I set my glass of water onto the windowsill. It was risky, certainly. Getting eaten by harpies was the last thing I wanted right then, but the thought was so irresistible.

After tossing on an old T-shirt over my shorts, I opened the door soundlessly and crept out into the night.

The grass was chilly under my feet as I snuck across the wonky shape the cabins made. No doubt people saw me lumbering across the lawn. My idea of stealthy has yet to be perfected, but that's okay. Most demigods would be sleeping by then, so I was _mostly_ safe.

The Athena cabin in fairly large. The owl stared down at me as if actually sensing someone intruding, lifeless eyes following my steps past the marble pillars. I snuck past it and ducked under one of the window on the side. Only half of the curtains were drawn, so I peeked in.

There were probably at least a dozen camp rules I was violating doing that…

Inside, I could barely see shapes of the bunks and shapes of slumbering people inside them. The light from the moon and stars was just enough for me to spot a spill of curly blond hair on the bunk directly next to the window. _Just my luck_, I thought, and slid the window open.

It wasn't Annabeth.

After shaking her shoulder gently, a beaky-nosed girl with thick eyebrows and a pointed chin let out a startled hiccup and sat up abruptly. When she saw it was just me she sniffed, and then reached over to the bunk next to hers.

"Annabeth, your boyfriend is breaking into our bunk. Please do something about it,"the girl whispered, and then flopped back down on her pillows.

A rustle and muted squeak of bedsprings later, Annabeth dragged herself into my line of sight. She was wearing only button-up pajama top and her underwear, and her hair was put into two braids on either side of her head.

If looks could kill…

I grinned apologetically to her and motioned for the door.

She shook her head, crossed her arms, cocked her hip, and raised an eyebrow. A typical Annabeth look.

I motioned again. That time she huffed and gave in, only pausing to whisper back to the girl I woke, "Go back to sleep, Tralessa. I'll be back in a minute."

I tiptoed back to the door of the Athena cabin just in time for Annabeth to slide out, still in her underwear.

She closed the door quietly behind her and then turned to me, putting both hands on the hips. "For the love of Zeus, Percy, what are you doing breaking into my cabin?"

"I wasn't breaking in!" I held up both of my hands in defense, but it was hard keeping my grin off. "I promise. I was just trying to get you."

"I was _sleeping_," Annabeth said, pointing at her pajamas and braided hair. "And do you know how many rules you're breaking by standing there? Rule 7: No camper is allowed outside past curfew. Rule 19: No camper is allowed on the premise of another cabin without explicit permission from one of its occupants. Rule 22: N—"

"Gods, Annabeth, don't get your panties in a bunch." I interrupted, doing my best not to laugh. "No one's going to catch us."

She scoffed loudly. "So now you're planning on dragging me further into this? No thank you. I'm going back to bed." Annabeth turned around to open the door again, but I grabbed onto her hand.

"Please." I managed to catch her gaze and wouldn't drop it, lowering my voice. "The stars are beautiful tonight. Just an hour, then we can go back. I won't let us get caught, okay? We'll be careful."

Annabeth looked like she was battling with herself. Hey eyebrows knit and she crossed her arms again and she glanced out behind her to where the ocean sparkled under the light of the night sky.

Finally, she sighed.

"Let me go get some pants on. I'll be out in a minute," Annabeth said, and then ducked back into her cabin, leaving me out in the silence once more.

I jittered impatiently on the balls of my feet for a few minutes, waiting for her to come back out. Several times I double checked for anyone coming to chew me out, but everything was quiet and dark.

The door swung softly open again and Annabeth slipped out again, wearing a pair of jeans. She glanced around us with narrowed, cautious eyes before tiptoeing off the steps and wrapping her fingers in mine.

"I hope you know what you're doing, Seaweed Brain," she whispered to me as we walked past the last of the cabins. "Getting eaten by the harpies would ruin my night."

I just laughed, but said nothing.

Nothing bothered us at all, and we walked up to the dock with no trouble. Annabeth sat first, and I followed, both of us stretched parallel on the wood. Above us, the stars were brighter than I'd ever seen them before. I saw clusters and galaxies and the Milky Way and so many twinkling lights it made my head spin.

Next to me, Annabeth pointed her finger upwards and named a few of the constellations. My eyes followed where she pointed and I saw them. Hercules, leaping across the sky. The Pegasus with his legs rearing in front of him. Orion holding the lion out at arm's length. Cassiopeia, the Gemini Twins, everything. I could see them all up there.

"And that one right there," Annabeth pointed a little to our right to a cluster of brilliant stars twinkling above the horizon. "You'd remember that one. That's Zoë."

I remembered. It made me feel a little sad, thinking about all the lives lost in the war. She was probably better up there anyways.

"So what about you?"

I drew my gaze away from the sky to Annabeth, where she had her hands laced on her stomach and was looking at me expectantly.

"What about me?" I asked stupidly.

"What constellations do you know?"

We both looked back up to the sky.

Other than the ones she showed me…

Trying not to grin too much, I pointed to a random star. "See that one up there? Right next to the…other star? That one is the tip of the wing of a…giant…flying…monkey serpent. You can see it biting the head off of…a baby…pig. See?"

Annabeth squinted her eyes up at the stars I pointed out. After a few seconds she snorted and punched my shoulder. "You liar."

I was laughing too much to give her a proper response. If there was a time when we'd be heard and ratted out, that would be the time, but no such thing happened.

Pretty soon, Annabeth began laughing, too. She rolled onto her side and rested her head on my shoulder, curling on arm across my chest. "How did I manage to land myself with the world's most idiotic boyfriend, pray tell?"

"Hey, I was too busy trying not to get pummeled every day at school to try and actually _learn_ something. This may be hard to imagine," I said sarcastically, "but I was just about the king of losers in the mortal world."

"And yet here you're a hero." Annabeth closed her eyes.

Silence fell between us. All I could hear were the singing of cicadas and the sounds of waves upon sand. My eyes stayed locked to the night sky, the innumerable stars and moon shining as a bright white crescent. Annabeth remained at my side, her blond curls escaping braids to tickle my neck. They smelled of lemon shampoo. It was hard resisting the urge to just bury my face in them.

"Mmf…Hey Percy?" Annabeth shifted a little, keeping her eyes closed but tightening her arm around me. "Do you ever think about going to Camp Jupiter again?"

"Camp Jupiter?" My eyebrows furrowed. "Like, for a visit?"

"No, to live."

I pondered this, but it got me nowhere. It was almost impossible imagining waking up to see their camp there instead of the circle of cabins here at Camp Half-Blood. Why would I leave my life here? Why would I change camp, leave everything behind? There was nothing they could offer that I didn't have here.

After choosing my words carefully, I cleared my throat and said, "I don't think so. I don't want to leave any of my friends here. It would be pointless."

"After training is done, though." Annabeth opened her eyes to look up at me, resting her chin on one of her hands. "No one really stays past eighteen, do you realize that? It's just the younger teenage years. We must be some of the oldest camp members. They all go off to live their lives."

"Why would we go to Camp Jupiter, though?"

"To raise a family," she said simply, closing her eyes again.

Even in the dark, I could have sworn she was blushing.

Was she suggesting…?

She was.

I didn't know how to respond. I absentmindedly twirled a bit of her hair with a finger and thought about it. If I replied assuming she meant what I thought she meant but she didn't really mean that…well, that would make things terribly awkward.

Ugh.

I bit my lip before continuing. "Are you…are you suggesting…?" It wouldn't leave my lips, stuck behind them like the words were too big to fit through my throat.

Annabeth sat up, turning to face me with her hands in her laps. All I could see of her was a silhouette against the darkness, but even then, it was one of the most beautiful things I'd ever seen, and it was eating me from the inside out.

"Have you thought about what's going to happen after we leave?" she asked in a soft voice. "We can't stay at Camp forever. Even demigods have to grow up _some_ time. Have you thought about your future at all?" Her voice grew a little quieter, unsure. "Were you even going to ask me to marry you at all?"

My heart stopped inside my chest and I felt frozen to the dock. What used to be a silhouette suddenly grew crystal-clear. I could see Annabeth clearer than I ever had; every curl of her hair, her delicate hands folded upon her lap, the nervous look in her eyes.

What was there to say? _Was_ I going to ask her to marry me? To be honest, I hadn't thought about it at all. Some part of my mind had imagined us being like this forever. Just us, Percy Jackson and Annabeth Chase. Just us, just like we were. However old we grew, I only knew one thing: I wanted to grow old with her. I wanted to spend the rest of my life with her but I was just too afraid of the future to face it at all.

I found myself reaching for one of her hands and felt our fingers lace together. "…Annabeth…" I began, trying to find the exact words to say, but it was like groping for a light switch in the dark. "I…I want to be with you, I do. I haven't thought about our future, though."

It was as if her disappointment was a material thing, washing over me like a gust of wind. Her shoulders sagged and her grip on me loosened just a bit.

I rushed to make amends, tripping over the words as they came out of my mouth, tripping over each other before I realized exactly what I was saying and lost courage.

"I haven't thought about our future because I see everyone else, Annabeth," I said in a hushed, urgent voice, sitting up with her and taking both of her hands. "I see everyone else struggling and-and I'm afraid we'll end up like that. I want to stay like we are—just like this, right now—forever. I don't want us to become just another bickering couple in New York. Because we're not."

She remained silent, head slightly bowed and turned away from me.

"Don't think for a moment I don't want to spend the rest of my life with you." When she still didn't move to speak, I pulled her a little closer and put one of my hands against her cheek. "Look at me, Annabeth."

Slowly, Annabeth lifted her head to meet my eyes and I smiled, the most real and genuine smile I could muster and brought my hand back down to hers.

"Don't think I don't want to spend my life with you. Because I do, more than anything. That's all I can ever think about," I said honestly. "And I want to…I want…"

Come on, Percy, say it. _Say it_.

I felt my hands trembling and I took a deep breath. "I want to marry you. But I'm finding it difficult to admit that we're not 12 anymore. Give me a few more years and you'll find me standing at your door with a ring in my hand. I want us to wait a few more years but I promise…I promise I'm yours."

Annabeth's mouth opened and even in the dark I could see her eyes shining.

"I always will be." My heart was beating faster than a freight train but it felt good to let it out, to finally admit—and that look in her eyes, I'll never forget. I let go of her hands to put them both on either side of her face.

The kiss tasted like moonlight, like everything I'd ever wanted and will ever want. It tasted too good to be true, but there we were, chests pressed up against one another. I could feel her heartbeat even under the two layers of clothes between us.

"If you want to go to Camp Jupiter, I'll go with," I promised her when we drew back for air. My fingers were tangled in the hair behind her head, but I wasn't anywhere _near_ wanting to let go. "If you want, at the end of next summer I'll pack my bags and follow you there. I'll tell my mom and you'll tell your dad, and we'll leave."

"You mean it?" Annabeth sucked in a breath.

"I mean it. Once we've finished our senior year of mortal school, we're free. I turn 18 in a little over a week. You're already 18. If it's what you want, then we'll do it."

Somewhere behind us there was a shriek and what sounded like a rustle of feathers and I couldn't help but grin.

"But until then we're still in Camp Half-Blood and are still breaking a curfew. Come on." I stood up and helped her up with me, only taking a second to give her another small kiss on the cheek.

We crept hurriedly back to the cabins, but Annabeth hesitated in front of hers.

As if reading her mind, I snorted quietly and flicked a piece of her hair away. "Maybe we'll manage to get away with sneaking out to the dock, but there's no way no one will notice _that_. Isn't it Rule 20 or something? 'Campers of different godly parenthood are forbid to sleep in one another's cabins'?"

Annabeth snorted, too, copying my cynicism. "I don't know, we're on a roll, aren't we? One more broken rule couldn't hurt, right?"

"Who are you and what have you done with Annabeth Chase?" I laughed, but didn't object any more. _I_ had no problem breaking rules.

Ducking under other cabin's windows, we kept sneaking across the lawn to get to the Poseidon cabin. It was as quiet and deserted as ever. When we stepped inside, that characteristic salty breeze and tinkle of wind chimes greeted us. Part of me wished I'd bothered cleaning a little, but Annabeth didn't seem to mind the clutter.

She admired the decoration for a moment before deciding to make herself at home. _Too_ at home, slipping off her jeans and crawling into the bunk nearest mine.

Hesitantly, I took my shirt off (hey, that's how I always sleep, okay?) and getting into my own bed.

There was silence for a few minutes before Annabeth finally spoke. "It's really quiet and empty in here."

It truly was. The siblings my dad had promised me a few years ago have yet to turn up, so I remained as alone as ever. Sometimes I didn't mind the solitude, but having the company of another camper really did make me realize what I was missing out on.

I sighed, turning onto my back and folding my arms behind my head. "It's just me and my seahorses in here…"

There was another moment of peace, when all you could hear was the muffled roar of the ocean and the music of the seashell wind chimes hanging outside.

Annabeth slipped quietly out of her blankets and appeared next to me. Wordlessly, she turned the covers up and crawled under them next to me. I tried not to, but I could feel the skin of her bare legs against mine briefly as she turned over onto her side, facing away from me, and let out a long, contented sigh.

I was unable to help myself. After watching her for a moment, I tucked the covers up to her chin and brushed her hair behind her ear before settling back down.

Like that, chest to back, Annabeth and I fell asleep, wanting only to stay like that for the rest of our lives.


End file.
